July 26, 2006

Doctor Who Series 2 Finale

Ok, so I'm a little behind all the cool kids with their goggle–boxes, but I finally got around to watching the series 2 finale of Doctor Who last night (yes, both parts :).

It was a perfectly–executed storyline that didn't suffer from the underdevelopment of many of the recent episodes (the last Christmas Special, and seemingly all of Russell T. Davies' episodes except these two); it was a fanboy's wet dream in terms of bringing both Cybermen and Daleks in, but I feel that this made it slightly over–done. My only criticism, though.

But the ending was so emotional! I knew before I watched the finale that these would be Billie Piper's last episodes, and the ending was such a nice twist (I won't spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it). But my god, did I have a lump in my throat at the end…

It's such a shame that Rose will no longer be travelling with the Doctor. David Tennant has acted superbly throughout the series (despite my initial qualms at the end of series 1 and following the Christmas Special), and played the bond between the Doctor and Rose much stronger than between Rose and Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. It's also refreshing to see that Billie Piper's acting is infinitely better than her singing.

So, as with the ending of the first series, I'm left wondering if the person stepping into one of the main roles will live up to the high expectations set by the previous. It's not helped by the fact that we have already seen the Doctor's new companion (played by Freema Agyeman) in the finale, and that she died, but I hope Freema does at least half as well as David Tennant at living up to the expectations of so many people.